A motley collection of ideas
In this section, you’ll find all kinds of articles. Some of them are machine translations of my older writings in Hungarian, which may contain grammatical errors or content that is no longer up to date. I apologize for these mistakes, and I would be very glad if you let me know when you come across any. Happy reading!
Architects have been interested in mobile buildings since the end of the 19th century. In nature, most things move in some way, whereas traditional architecture creates rigid, static things out of stone, wood and, more recently, steel and glass. There have been various attempts to bring buildings to life in some way, one trend being the revolving house.
Anyone working with electronics will eventually hold a component that you need to identify—what it is, how its legs connect, if it’s the right value, or whether it works at all. Testing with a multimeter A knowledgeable person can learn a lot even with a basic ohm-meter. Some multimeters include diode-test or transistor current gain … Read more
The JYE Tech DSO 068 is a do-it-yourself oscilloscope kit that’s easy to assemble. Anyone who can solder well, has some basic electronics knowledge, understands a little English, and owns a digital multimeter can confidently take on the task of building it. The kit’s list price is $79 (around 23,000 HUF at the time of … Read more
As I write these lines, there is half a metre of snow under the window and it is -10°C. The sunlight is playing nicely on the bruised trees, but the cold is evil. If we have to get out of our gloves, our fingers quickly get cold, our skin starts to burn. The blood circulation to the back of the hand deteriorates rapidly, and the gloves are of no use. It’s better to put your hands under a coat or use a hand warmer.
This gadget is actually a continuation of the glimm lamp project. No, I don’t keep horses or deer cattle, so I don’t have a light bulb. However, I do run into electric shepherds while walking through the woods, and it makes me wonder whether or not there is a jelly in it. This thing, which is barely bigger than a pocket knife, is designed to find out.
I’ve always been fascinated by gas-discharge lamps. I don’t know why—perhaps simply because they glow in the dark. Or perhaps because they don’t always shine with a steady light, but sometimes flicker a little, as if they were alive, or burning like a flame. Or maybe because it seems as though the light is created … Read more
This Easter was spent in quarantine. It was a great opportunity to take advantage of the sunshine to draw pictures with light. Let’s replace the sterile electronic world of digital cameras with a dip in the water and think back to the 1830s, the birth of photography.
It is not widely known that Hitler was a vegetarian, and even fewer people know that he was also an animal welfare advocate. Allegedly, the idea to ban bowl-shaped aquariums originated with him, as he believed it was animal cruelty that the fish had no corners to hide in and that the bowl distorted the … Read more
Nowadays, in the age of semiconductor diodes, many people don’t even know what this thing is. Yet, they were used in radio and television receivers up until around 1975. Recently, at a ham radio flea market, I picked up an AEG selenium rectifier for a few forints. I started searching online for its datasheet, but … Read more
A few months ago, I was looking at tests of robot vacuum cleaners. Reading the user reviews, I noticed that many people talk about a vacuum cleaner as a pet, and even talk about it as if it were their child. One young couple, for example, watched with rapt attention in the evenings as the little robot taught them how to move chairs, table legs and other obstacles in the room. Then, when it finally crawled onto its charger and slithered away, the couple dozed off. Admittedly, a robot is more suited to the hipster lifestyle than a dog or cat, and it cleans up and doesn’t need cleaning up after, but to quote Uncle Abel: “No, no!